[Senate Hearing 112-175] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] S. Hrg. 112-175 RESPONDING TO THE PRESCRIPTION DRUG EPIDEMIC: STRATEGIES FOR REDUCING ABUSE, MISUSE, DIVERSION, AND FRAUD ======================================================================= HEARING before the SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIME AND TERRORISM of the COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION __________ MAY 24, 2011 __________ Serial No. J-112-23 __________ Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 71-663 WASHINGTON : 2012 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, http://bookstore.gpo.gov. For more information, contact the GPO Customer Contact Center, U.S. Government Printing Office. Phone 202�09512�091800, or 866�09512�091800 (toll-free). E-mail, [email protected]. COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont, Chairman HERB KOHL, Wisconsin CHUCK GRASSLEY, Iowa DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah CHUCK SCHUMER, New York JON KYL, Arizona DICK DURBIN, Illinois JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota JOHN CORNYN, Texas AL FRANKEN, Minnesota MICHAEL S. LEE, Utah CHRISTOPHER A. COONS, Delaware TOM COBURN, Oklahoma RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut Bruce A. Cohen, Chief Counsel and Staff Director Kolan Davis, Republican Chief Counsel and Staff Director ------ Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island, Chairman HERB KOHL, Wisconsin JON KYL, Arizona DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah DICK DURBIN, Illinois JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina CHRISTOPHER A. COONS, Delaware Stephen Lilley, Democratic Chief Counsel Stephen Higgins, Republican Chief Counsel C O N T E N T S ---------- STATEMENTS OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS Page Leahy, Hon. Patrick J., a U.S. Senator from the State of Vermont. 176 Whitehouse, Hon. Sheldon, a U.S. Senator from the State of Rhode Island......................................................... 1 WITNESSES Brown, Hon. Sherrod, a U.S. Senator from the State of Ohio....... 3 Eadie, John L., Director, Prescription Monitoring Program Center of Excellence, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massaschusetts.... 18 Hosley, Laura, Manager, Community Prevention, Rhode Island Student Assistance Services, Warwick, Rhode Island............. 16 Kerlikowske, R. Gil, Director, White House, Office of National Drug Control Policy, Washington, DC............................ 5 Leonhart, Michele M., Administrator, Drug Enforcement Administration, Washington, DC................................. 7 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Responses of R. Gil Kerlikowske to questions submitted by Senator Schumer........................................................ 27 Responses of Michele M. Leonhart to questions submitted by Senator Schumer................................................ 32 SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM), Perry G. Fine, President, Glenview, Illinois, May 20, 2011 letter............. 36 American Pain Foundation, Scott M. Fishman, President and Chair, Baltimore, MD, May 23, 2011, letter............................ 39 American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP), Paducah, Kentucky, statement................................... 41 Casey, Hon. Robert P., Jr., a U.S. Senator from the State of Pennsylvania, statement........................................ 112 Chaudhry, Humayun J., President and Chief Executive Officer, Federation of State Medical Boards, statement.................. 113 Dean, General Arthur T., U.S. Army, (retired), Chairman and CEO, Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, Alexandria, Virginia, statement............................................ 118 Eadie, John L., Director, Prescription Monitoring Program Center of Excellence, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massaschusetts, statement...................................................... 137 Gressitt, Stevan, Founding Director, International Institute for Pharmaceutical Safety, Portland, Maine, statement.............. 146 Hosley, Laura, Manager, Community Prevention, Rhode Island Student Assistance Services, Warwick, Rhode Island, statement.. 159 Kerlikowske, R. Gil, Director, White House, Office of National Drug Control Policy, Washington, DC, statement................. 169 Leonhart, Michele M., Administrator, Drug Enforcement Administration, Washington, DC, statement...................... 177 National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA), Alexandria, Virginia, statement............................................ 190 Pain Care Coalition, Edward Michna, Chair, Washington, DC, May 20, 2011, letter............................................... 193 Pasierb, Steve, President and CEO, The Partnership at Drugfree.org, New York, New York, statement.................... 201 Rockefeller, Hon. Jay, a U.S. Senator from the State of West Virginia, statement............................................ 208 Kimberly Walsh, Deputy Commissioner, State of West Virginia, Department of Health and Human Resources, Charleston, West Virginia, May 24, 2011, letter................................. 210 RESPONDING TO THE PRESCRIPTION DRUG EPIDEMIC: STRATEGIES FOR REDUCING ABUSE, MISUSE, DIVERSION, AND FRAUD ---------- TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2011 U.S. Senate, Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism, Committee on the Judiciary, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:04 a.m., in room SD-226, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Sheldon Whitehouse, Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding. Present: Senators Whitehouse, Klobuchar, and Blumenthal. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND Chairman Whitehouse. The hearing will come to order. This morning's hearing considers a topic that is extremely important to the health and safety of our kids, of our families, and of our communities, and that is, ``Responding to the Prescription Drug Epidemic: Strategies for Reducing Abuse, Misuse, Diversion, and Fraud.'' Used properly, under a physician's direction, pain relievers and other prescription drugs bring much-needed comfort to Americans. But their abuse poses a serious and growing threat to our communities and young people. In 2009, approximately 7 million Americans reported misuse of prescription drugs. The problem is particularly acute among teenagers. Prescription drugs are the second most abused category of drugs among our Nation's young people, and six of the top ten abused substances among high school seniors are prescription drugs. Prescription drug abuse is extremely dangerous. Over the last 5 years, emergency room visits involving improper use of pharmaceuticals more than doubled. Too often, the consequences were deadly. According to the CDC, drug-related poisonings are now the leading cause of death due to unintentional injuries in my home State of Rhode Island and in 16 other States, greater even than motor vehicle accidents. Diversion and abuse of prescription drugs can also impose significant financial costs on our health care system through emergency room visits and treatment of medical complications. We pay for that through higher private insurance premiums and higher Medicare and other public health costs. The ever-growing epidemic of prescription drug abuse demands sustained attention from law enforcement, health care professionals, and Congress. It poses challenges similar to those faced from other illegal drugs. As with illegal drugs, for instance, large-scale criminal networks have developed for the diversion and distribution of prescription drugs. However, there are unique challenges in the prescription drug context. These drugs can be readily available in our homes, giving teens easy and direct access. Approximately 70 percent of people aged 12 or older who used prescription pain relievers non-medically in 2009 got them from a friend or relative. Furthermore, education about the threat of prescription drugs is more difficult because these legal drugs have an important medical purpose, are prescribed by physicians, and come from pharmacies. Teens are too often unaware of the dangers of misuse and abuse. The special characteristics of prescription drugs demand a multi-pronged strategy for reducing wrongful use. This strategy should include educating prescribers and patients about responsible uses of these drugs, recognizing signs of abuse, providing appropriate treatments and interventions, and deploying appropriate law enforcement resources. Electronic information-sharing systems, such as the prescription drug monitoring programs authorized in 43 States, are promising tools for identifying pill mills and doctor shoppers. I was pleased to get bipartisan legislation passed last year allowing the Government to perform sophisticated analyses of Medicare data in order to avoid paying fraudulent claims and to give law enforcement tools for investigating criminal fraud. There are analogous ways to strengthen prescription monitoring programs so that they have more complete prescription data, use advanced analysis to identify diversion or abuse, and better allow prescribers, law enforcement, and others to address these problems. E-prescribing can also play a valuable role, limiting diversion, fraud, and medical mistakes by reducing opportunities for forgery and error. I am pleased that Rhode Island is a national leader in e-prescribing. We can combine the advantages of e-prescribing and of prescription monitoring programs to help physicians recognize early patterns of abuse. Today's hearing seeks to advance these goals. I welcome our witnesses from the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Drug Enforcement Agency, as well as from Brandeis University and my home State of Rhode Island. I congratulate the Obama administration on the release of their proposals for responding to America's prescription drug abuse crisis. I look forward to working with the administration, Chairman Leahy, Ranking Member Kyl, and other Senators from both sides of the aisle on legislation to protect against prescription drug abuse. I saw Senator Kyl this morning, and he indicated that he may not be able to attend the hearing today. His schedule has been, I guess, a little bit tumultuous, and if he can, of course, I will recognize him. But if he does not, I have been instructed to proceed. We have Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio here to kick off the hearing. Senator Brown has taken a keen interest in this issue, and we look forward to his statement. Thank you, Senator Brown. STATEMENT OF HON. SHERROD BROWN, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF OHIO Senator Brown. Thank you, Chairman Whitehouse, for allowing me to testify today and for your leadership on this important Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism. Chairman Whitehouse and I served together on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee where we worked closely together on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and throughout our time in the Senate, I valued his expertise on the connections between our health care and our legal systems. Today's hearing is an example of that connection, how the rampant abuse and trafficking of prescription drugs pose both a public health threat and a law enforcement threat. In recent years, more Ohioans have died from prescription drug overdoses than from car accidents. In 2008, statistics show that oxycodone and Percocet and other prescription drugs caused more overdoses in Ohio that year than heroin and cocaine combined. Prescription pain medications such as OxyContin are largely responsible for increasing overdoses and deaths in my State and across the country. Simply put, prescription drug abuse, as the Chairman said, is the fastest-growing drug problem in the Nation. Almost every day in Ohio, there is a reported story of a child lost to prescription drug abuse or neighborhoods harboring its illicit trade. In southeast Ohio, the most rural part of the State, it is particularly tragic. Old factory towns and rural communities have become havens for prescription drug abuse. These stories, of course, are not limited to Ohio and Rhode Island. Across the country communities are struggling to find ways to respond and to develop strategies to reduce the diversion and abuse of prescription drugs. Last year, I convened a first of its kind roundtable in southern Ohio with Federal and local law enforcement, community activists, elected officials, drug treatment leaders, and members from the medical community. They raised a concern with criminal manipulation of Ohio's Medicaid program, which spends upwards of $820 million on prescription medicines. While most prescription pain medicines are used as prescribed, as the Chairman pointed out, and they are valuable, some criminals defraud the Medicaid system and fleece Ohio taxpayers by acquiring multiple prescriptions and filling them at multiple pharmacies. A case of criminals defrauding taxpayers in the Medicaid system to sell and divert prescription drugs becomes a one-two punch in the stomach to the system. That is why last month I introduced the Stop Trafficking of Pills Act, which would establish a Medicaid lock-in program for Ohio and nationwide to crack down on the use of Medicaid cards to obtain and illegally resell prescription drugs. The bill would prevent prescription drug abusers from acquiring excess prescription drugs which they may abuse or illegally resell by barring them from visiting multiple doctors and pharmacies. Nearly 20 States already have something similar to the Medicaid lock-in program. South Carolina's Medicaid lock-in pilot program targeted at high-use beneficiaries spurred a 43-percent decrease in the total number of prescribed prescription pain medications. Consider Scioto County on the Ohio River in southern Ohio. In this Ohio River town, prescription drugs cause nine of every ten fatal drug overdoses. In nearly two-thirds of these cases, the individuals involved did not have prescriptions themselves, indicating, of course, they in all likelihood obtained the drugs illegally. An investigation by the GAO, which audited the Medicaid program of the five largest States, found 65,000 cases in which Medicaid beneficiaries visited six or more doctors and up to 46 different pharmacies to acquire these prescriptions. This same report found approximately 800 prescriptions written for dead patients and 1,200 prescriptions written by dead physicians. Under a Medicaid lock-in program, States would identify high-risk prescription users, those who are receiving an excessive amount of prescription drugs or those who have been convicted of a drug-related offense. These high-risk prescription drug users would be placed in the program and assigned one physician and one pharmacy. It would mean no more doctor shopping, no more pharmacy hopping. States would identify prescription drugs that are dispensed under Medicaid and that present a high risk of overutilization. The legislation requires the Federal Government to set up a similar lock-in program for Medicare, where the abuse is there but obviously not as high. Prescription drug abuse in Ohio and our Nation needs to be treated like the epidemic it is. Chairman Whitehouse has been a leader on this issue, urging the DEA to implement electronic prescribing for controlled substances and calling for strong prescription drug monitoring systems. Today's witnesses will describe the administration's comprehensive prescription drug strategy and ways FDA can crack down on the abuse, and community activists will describe the victims and families whom they represent, offering the stories behind the statistics and policies being discussed. From the policies to the stories, it is clear prescription drug abuse knows no party lines. It is clear it is an issue of life or death in too many parts of our Nation, at least in my State especially in rural areas, which have experienced terrible job loss and economic hardship for hundreds of thousands of families. I will stop there. I thank the Chairman for allowing me to testify. Chairman Whitehouse. Senator Brown, I appreciate very much your energy and your leadership on this issue, both here in Washington and in your home State of Ohio. It seems that Ohio and Rhode Island have a lot in common on this issue, and I look forward to continuing to work with you as you go forward. I particularly appreciate that, as busy as your schedule is, you took the time out this morning to come to this Committee, of which you are not a member, to make sure that your voice was heard here, and I am very grateful to you for that. I know your schedule commands you to be elsewhere, so thank you very much for taking the trouble. Chairman Whitehouse. Now I will ask our first panel, Hon. Gil Kerlikowske and Hon. Michele Leonhart, to come forward. Let me ask you to stand and be sworn. Do you affirm that the testimony you are about to give before the Committee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Mr. Kerlikowske. I do. Ms. Leonhart. I do. Chairman Whitehouse. Thank you. Please be seated. Thank you both for being here. It is an impressive turnout. And for those of you who do not know our witnesses, Gil Kerlikowske is the Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Director Kerlikowske served as the chief of police for Seattle, Washington; was Deputy Director for the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community-Oriented Policing Services; was police commissioner of Buffalo, New York; and served in the St. Petersburg, Florida, police department. He has been elected twice to be president of the Major Cities Chief, and he has received numerous awards and recognition for leadership, innovation, and community service. He is joined by Michele Leonhart, who is Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Confirmed in December 2010, she had been the Acting Administrator since 2007 and Deputy Administrator since 2004. As a career DEA special agent, Ms. Leonhart held several key positions as she moved through the ranks of DEA, including as assistant special agent in charge of the Los Angeles Field Division. She has received numerous awards, including the Rank of Distinguished Executive in 2004, and the Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Service in 2005 and 2000. It is truly our privilege to have these two witnesses here, and why don't we go across the table. We will start with Mr. Kerlikowske. Please proceed with your statements. STATEMENT OF HON. R. GIL KERLIKOWSKE, DIRECTOR, WHITE HOUSE OFFICE OF NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL POLICY, WASHINGTON, DC Mr. Kerlikowske. Chairman Whitehouse, thank you very much for this opportunity to address the important issue of prescription drug abuse in our country, and I am very grateful for the Committee's attention to this topic. Prescription drug abuse has been a major focus at ONDCP since my confirmation, and I have directed the National Drug Control Program agencies to address this epidemic in our country. I have the responsibility to raise public awareness, coordinate Federal activities, and take action on drug issues that affect our Nation. The efforts that we have taken are balanced. They incorporate new research and evidence-based approaches to address drug use and its consequences. Prescription drug abuse is the fastest-growing drug problem in the United States. It is categorized as a public health epidemic by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The number of individuals who for the first time consumed prescription drugs for a non-medical purpose was similar to the number of first-time marijuana users. We have also seen a fourfold increase in addiction treatment admissions for individuals primarily abusing prescription painkillers from 1997 to 2007. Even more alarming is the fact that about 28,000 Americans have died from unintentional drug overdoses in 2007, and prescription drugs, particularly the opioid painkillers, are considered major contributors to the total number of drug deaths. And we believe there are two unique reasons for the growth in prescription drug abuse: easy accessibility to the drugs and the diminished perception of risk. A comprehensive approach is required to address this epidemic. It is important to balance prevention, education, and enforcement with the need for legitimate access to controlled substances. The administration has created an inclusive Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Plan that brings together Federal, State, local, and tribal groups to reduce prescription drug diversion and abuse. The plan expands upon the administration's National Drug Control Strategy and has four major areas. The first is education. Mandatory prescriber education as well as patient and parent education is essential. Sixty-nine percent of narcotic analgesics are distributed in primary care offices and emergency departments. In addition, we want to make sure that patients and parents are fully aware of the dangers and the prevalence of prescription drug abuse and that they are educated about the safe use and proper storage and disposal of these medications. The FDA is implementing a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy plan that requires manufacturers of long-acting and extended-release opioids to ensure that training is provided to prescribers. The second part of our plan includes that each State have a Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP), and Senator Brown mentioned the importance of those, and I know you have another witness that will be talking about those. But we are strongly supportive of those and that they have interoperability and that they be used by all of the prescribers. We have also made significant investments in health information technology and continue to work with HHS particularly on health information exchanges. Opportunities include identifying ways to incorporate real-time PDMP data at the point of care and dispensing. The third part of the plan calls for proper medication disposal. Unused medications that sit in our medicine cabinets are falling into the wrong hands, and by creating a method for proper disposal of expired or unused prescription drugs, we will benefit public health, public safety, and the environment. Passage of the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act in 2010 was an important step forward in our efforts to make prescription drug disposal more accessible to individuals and to reduce the supply of drugs available. A drug disposal program has to be easily accessible to the public, environmentally friendly, cost-effective, and the cost burden should not be placed on consumers. The last part of the plan is smart law enforcement. You have the expert sitting to my left to talk about that, but our main effort will be, as they have already done with the DEA's comprehensive work on pill mills, to address the issue of doctors who overprescribe, and of course, PDMPs help with doctor shopping. Our office, ONDCP, supports the HIDTAs, the High-Intensity Drug-Trafficking Areas, and we want to make sure that local law enforcement, with the cooperation of DEA, have the support that they need to understand these complex investigations and do a better job of bringing drug dealers to justice. In closing, I want to thank all of my colleagues in the executive branch, but particularly we could not be effective in any of these areas without the support of Congress. [The prepared statement of Mr. Kerlikowske appears as a submission for the record.] Chairman Whitehouse. Thank you, Director Kerlikowske. Director Leonhart. STATEMENT OF HON. MICHELE M. LEONHART, ADMINISTRATOR, DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION, WASHINGTON, DC Ms. Leonhart. Chairman Whitehouse, Senator Klobuchar, thank you for the opportunity to discuss the growing epidemic of prescription drug abuse and the critical role of the Drug Enforcement Administration in the enforcement of our Nation's drug laws and regulations. The diversion and abuse of pharmaceutical controlled substances is a significant and growing problem in the United States. Every leading indicator shows increases over relatively short periods of time in the use and abuse of these drugs. Pain clinics have emerged as a major source of controlled substances for non-legitimate medical purposes. DEA and other Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies have developed great working relationships and continuously coordinate efforts to combat this emerging threat. Federal administrative and criminal actions against a physician with controlled substance privileges is rare. However, such actions are warranted when a physician is issuing controlled substance prescriptions for an illegitimate purpose and operating outside the usual course of professional practice. And as Administrator, I have made prescription drug abuse a top priority. I am especially alarmed that another contributing factor to the increase in prescription drug abuse is the availability of these drugs in the household. In many cases, prescription drugs remain in household medicine cabinets well after medication therapy has been completed, thus providing easy access to non- medical users for abuse, accidental ingestion, or illegal distribution for profit. And the 2010 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study, which we call PATS, noted that 51 percent of those surveyed believe that most teens get prescription drugs from their own family's medicine cabinets. DEA manages a robust regulatory program aimed at preventing and curbing diversion, all the way from the manufacturing level to the dispensing of these medications to patients. In working with Congress, DEA also obtained new authority last year to regulate the disposal of unused medications by ultimate users, thereby getting unused medications out of the household medicine cabinets in a lawful manner. DEA is working diligently to promulgate disposal regulations. In the interim, DEA launched a nationwide take- back initiative in September of last year and again in April of this year, resulting in the combined collection of 309 tons of unwanted or expired medications. And DEA will continue to hold periodic take-back events until regulations are in place. DEA's obligation under the law and to the public is to ensure that pharmaceutical controlled substances are prescribed and dispensed only for legitimate medical purposes in accordance with the Controlled Substances Act. And by carrying out this obligation, DEA strives to minimize the diversion of pharmaceutical controlled substances for abuse while ensuring that such medications are fully available to patients in accordance with the sound medical judgments of their doctors. In this manner, DEA is committed to balancing the need for diversion control and enforcement with the need for legitimate access to these drugs. DEA closely monitors the closed system through recordkeeping requirements and mandatory reporting at all levels of the supply chain. Due to enhancements to our regulatory resources, controlled substance manufacturers, distributors, importers, exporters, and narcotic treatment programs are receiving more inspections and audits than ever before. A key component to our enhanced investigative resources are tactical diversion squads. These unique groups combine the skills of special agents, diversion investigators, and task force officers. These TDS groups, as we call them, are dedicated solely toward investigating, disrupting, and dismantling those individuals or organizations involved in diversion schemes, and as of today, DEA has 37 operational TDS groups. DEA plans to add 27 more over the next few years. One example of the effectiveness of these tactical diversion squads is Operation Pill Nation, which has targeted rogue pain clinics in South Florida since February of 2010 and culminated in a series of major takedowns this past February. This led to 32 arrests, including 12 doctors and 5 pain clinic owners, and DEA also immediately suspended 63 DEA registration numbers and issued orders to show cause on 6 DEA registrations, which resulted in the surrender of 29 DEA registration numbers. And this caused a ripple effect throughout South Florida and resulted in 54 more registration numbers being surrendered. DEA recognizes that it cannot solve this problem alone, and DEA is working with our Federal, State and local, and private sector partners as a part of this administration's comprehensive approach to combating prescription drug abuse. Many States also have adopted prescription drug monitoring programs, which are deemed to be a valuable tool in curbing diversion. The administration supports establishment of these programs in every State because PDMPs help cut down on prescription fraud and doctor shopping by giving physicians and pharmacists more complete information about a patient's prescriptions for controlled substances. In closing, prescription drug abuse is a dangerous threat, and DEA is determined to be a part of the solution. And with your support and that of our partners, I know we will continue to make a positive difference in the lives of millions of Americans and communities across the Nation. So I thank you for the opportunity to appear here today, and I look forward to answering your questions. [The prepared statement of Ms. Leonhart appears as a submission for the record.] Chairman Whitehouse. Thank you, Ms. Leonhart. Chairman Leahy could not be here today, but he has offered a statement for the record reflecting, among other things, observations we got, Director Kerlikowske and I, with the Chairman at the hearing that he held up in Vermont last year with all of us together. And without objection, I will add that to the record of this hearing. [The prepared statement of Chairman Leahy appears as a submission for the record.] Chairman Whitehouse. I have a couple of questions. I think I will probably pass on the drug disposal questions because we are joined by Senator Klobuchar, who was the author of the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010 that was mentioned in the testimony. But I do want to mention on that that I was in Rhode Island the other day at the Narragansett Bay Commission's Bucklin Point Treatment Facility, and they are actually seeing effects from pharmaceuticals that are discarded down the drain out in the environment as they come through the treatment system and go out in that case into the river and then on down to the bay. So it is not a solution necessarily to have people dispose of this by throwing it down the drain. We really have to improve on that, and I suspect she will urge you to move those regulations with some degree of dispatch. As you know, we have had a long battle over the e- prescribing regulations. I think that has been 3 years from when we had the first hearing, and your predecessors at DEA sat next to people from HHS and had completely different views of the world, and in the same administration. And I gather that that has all been worked through, but if you could bring me up to date on where we are under the interim final rule in terms of actual deployment and the ability to certify contractors and actually have e-prescribing take place in the field. I am assuming that you view e-prescribing as an investigative and awareness asset in the drug diversion problem, and in that frame, I would like you to let me know where we stand. Ms. Leonhart. Yes, Chairman. We do view e-prescribing as an important tool--a tool for law enforcement, actually. We have worked very hard, especially since last March when I signed the interim rule, which went into effect almost a year ago. June 1st will be a year. We have been in contact with the people that are putting together the systems. They are moving forward. And we understand the first ones may be ready this summer for audit and then come online and be available by the end of the year. We have looked at a number of the comments that came in. The interim rule is in effect now. We believe the final rule will be ready to go early next year, and there should be no reason that people should not be moving forward to implement e- prescribing, which will help in many ways to include the diversion problem of prescription drugs, as well as help with fraud and enhance health for patients. Chairman Whitehouse. Is there actually e-prescribing of controlled pharmaceuticals under the interim final rule happening now? Or are people still waiting for the contractors to be certified so that it can actually happen? I mean, it is one thing to have the rule be in operation. It is another thing to actually have something happen in the real world. And I am not sure that this has actually hit the real world yet. Could you let me know what the status is in terms of actual flow of data across e-prescribing networks of controlled pharmaceuticals? Ms. Leonhart. Well, I can tell you it has not hit the real world yet, but the systems are being put in place. They first need to be audited. We understand one has announced called ``Doctor First.'' It has announced that it is DEA compliant and is ready to move forward, and I believe it is in the auditing stages now and has identified over 150 different customers, and that will be the first one that we have heard of that will come online probably by the end of the year. Chairman Whitehouse. I am not going to remember the exact numbers that Senator Brown used, but he described individuals who had multiple prescriptions from multiple doctors and were using multiple pharmacies, and that is the type of thing that this sort of system can flag so that it does not happen, correct? Ms. Leonhart. That is correct--that with the prescription drug monitoring programs, we will be able to identify people that are doctor shopping, as you just explained. Chairman Whitehouse. I will now recognize Senator Klobuchar, author of the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010. Senator Klobuchar. Thank you. You remember that name better than I do. That is pretty good. Thank you to both of our witnesses. Director Kerlikowske and I worked together back when he was police chief and I was county attorney. And then, of course, Ms. Leonhart, we have worked together as well, and you are from Minnesota so you can do no harm, as far as I am concerned. [Laughter.] Senator Klobuchar. I wanted to go through--as Senator Whitehouse mentioned, we passed into law the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act, something that Senator Cornyn and I authored, and got it through the House, and thank you for your help in doing that, Director Kerlikowske. And I wanted to find out the status of the rules. You know what this bill does, acknowledging that prescription drugs are the No. 2 way that kids can get addicted to drugs, the drugs sitting around in their parents' medicine cabinets. And this allows pharmacies to do take-back programs, more than just police departments; clarifies some of the details; also for long-term care facilities, which it turned out were flushing a lot of these pills down the toilet because they did not know what they could do legally. And I know that the regulations were included as part of the plan released by the White House. Can you give us an update on the drafting of the regulations? And what are some of the key issues you will be looking at? And what do you think the timetable will be? Mr. Kerlikowske. Senator, since it is in the design of the rulemaking, and the White House is not influencing the rulemaking, I would defer and ask that maybe Administrator Leonhart answer that question. Thank you. Senator Klobuchar. OK. Very good. Thank you. Ms. Leonhart. Senator, I want to thank you for your support. I am not sure that bill would have passed without your fine support and the support of your colleagues. It is very important to us. I am pleased to say that we are on track and hope to have a final rule by the end of the year or early next year. In the meantime, we have held our second take-back just last month, which was even more successful than the first take- back in September. We held a hearing, an open forum hearing, in January and had over 100 witnesses provide comments and submit comments that we are looking at very closely. And the good news is we are on track to have a final rule hopefully by the end of the year or January or February of next year. Senator Klobuchar. OK. Very good. And are you working with various stakeholders on the rules and getting input? Ms. Leonhart. Absolutely. The public forum had stakeholders from all entities, and we have a wide range of recommendations and suggestions from them. And all options are on the table to come up with the best final rule we can get that allows for that safe and regular disposal. Senator Klobuchar. Very good, because I think that we know the take-back programs are great. They are becoming more and more popular. But to have something that would be just commonplace in pharmacies would be the best, and certainly helping all these long-term care facilities would be good as well. I had a different kind of question, and it is about the use of synthetic drugs, including synthetic hallucinogens. And as you know, these drugs are not prescription medications, but I think it is clear that the abuse of these illegal drugs and prescription drugs are closely related. And I have a bill-- Senators Grassley and Schumer have one, on certain types of synthetics, and I have one based on--it is called 2C-E, something that actually killed a young man in Minnesota and almost killed a number of others at a party. And I just wondered if you were aware of this problem, either of you, and if we have your support in moving forward on this legislation. Ms. Leonhart. We are absolutely aware of the synthetics, and especially of the young man who lost his life in Minnesota with the use of the 2C-E compound. These are synthetics that are the drugs of the future. Whether it is synthetic cannabis or a synthetic stimulant or hallucinogen, young people are attracted to that, so it concerns us. So we support any legislation, any tools that Congress can put forward that will help us combat that, and know that in Minnesota as well as the other States where these synthetics have shown up, we are working with State and local law enforcement. We are providing technical assistance, training, to do whatever we can to put a stop to that. Senator Klobuchar. OK. Director Kerlikowske. Mr. Kerlikowske. And, Senator, while the process is going on, the legislative process, we have used the bully pulpit of the White House to be able to bring to a lot of people's attention the problems of the things such as bath salts, synthetic drugs, et cetera. So that has been helpful in alerting people to the problem, and thank you. Senator Klobuchar. Very good. I just think the more we can list some of these as clearly illegal, that helps you with your education process, makes parents aware of this new phenomenon with these drugs that I do not think anyone ever anticipated a decade ago. My last question along the lines of the tools for all of you to use is that the administration's plan on prescription drugs makes reference to the role of Congress, and if you could touch further on the role of Congress. Can you talk about the potential need for further legislation in the area of illegal prescription drugs? Director Kerlikowske. Mr. Kerlikowske. Senator, we think one of the most important parts of the comprehensive prescription drug plan will be in mandatory prescriber education. When we developed President Obama's National Drug Control Strategy, his direction to me was to make sure that the voices of people across the country were heard, and we did that and included discussion around prescription drugs and information. The actual prescription drug plan is more comprehensive, more specific, and we developed it very much in the same way-- by listening to people all over the country, particularly a number of prescribing physicians, whether they were in emergency departments or whether they were in a number of other locations, for instance, pain management or primary care. And overwhelmingly the information that was provided to me by them was that additional information and education about addiction, about dependence, about prescribing pain medications was important and vitally needed. And overwhelmingly they had told me that it should be mandatory. Although voluntary education is certainly something that people appreciate, and I know that these are physicians who are very overworked, mandatory prescriber education is, in my opinion, very important. Senator Klobuchar. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Chairman Whitehouse. And now we will turn to the distinguished Senator from Connecticut, whose many years of exemplary service as the Attorney General in Connecticut make him keenly aware of this issue. Senator Blumenthal. Senator Blumenthal. Thank you, Senator Whitehouse, and thank you for holding this hearing, and thank you especially for being attuned to this very, very difficult and profoundly important topic. And I thank you both for your great work on this issue. I want to thank you also for the recommendation from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy in its plan to combat prescription drug abuse to recommend that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs share patient information on controlled substance prescriptions with State prescription drug monitoring programs, which I think is very, very important. As you know, the VA also supports this request. And I will be introducing legislation within the coming days as part of a comprehensive program on veterans issues to support providing that tool in the toolbox, so to speak. So I wonder if you or Director Leonhart could perhaps share with us and put on the record your views as to why this recommendation is important. Mr. Kerlikowske. Senator, thank you very much. I could not have a stronger partner than General Shinseki and the VA on this issue. I do not think there is anyone in this country that is not supportive of our active-duty military and our returning veterans and how they can be helped. But we also know very correctly that self-medication, the use of prescription drugs in both the active-duty military--it has been well documented-- and also returning veterans, is a significant problem. It is a problem for combat readiness and force readiness. It is a problem for local jurisdictions, particularly jurisdictions where National Guard returns and there may not be as large a military base or presence. Prescription drug monitoring programs that are now in almost every State--and not all of them active, but we are working to help them to become more robust--are only as effective as how they are used. And if you can go into a VA hospital and obtain prescription drugs and then go down the street to a private physician, and the two systems do not talk to each other, that is dangerous for the patient. It puts the physicians in a difficult position because they do not know about what prescriptions are being offered to that patient by a different physician in a different facility. And so the support of the VA and the support of the Department of Defense on that issue, so that one system can clarify and talk to each other, is good for our veterans and our active-duty military. And it is clearly a patient safety issue, and I thank you for that support. Senator Blumenthal. Would you have anything to add, Ms. Leonhart? Ms. Leonhart. I would add that it is a very serious problem: 5.3 million Americans are abusing painkillers, and among those 5.3 million are our veterans, especially returning veterans. And the leadership of Director Kerlikowske bringing the VA to the table has been significant and I think will in the end benefit all of our efforts, especially those that will most affect veterans. And thank you for your interest in that topic. Senator Blumenthal. It almost enables or encourages doctor shopping and abuse to have these two separate systems that are completely unlinked and simply do not communicate with each other. How well--and I realize this is kind of an open-ended question, but how well are the State systems working? And do you note wide variation in their effectiveness? If you could give us a general assessment. Mr. Kerlikowske. There are a number of people that have looked at these. The CDC just recently released a report, although the data that they used was a bit dated. I have examined them and looked at them. There are some States-- particularly what is called the KASPER system in Kentucky, which is very forward leaning in this area, but there are several problems, and we have addressed those in the prescription drug plan. One is that they should be interoperable and talk to each other. During our 4-day trip to eastern Kentucky and also West Virginia, we learned that doctors would have to access multiple systems--those in Ohio, those in West Virginia, those in Kentucky--when it came to checking on patients and making sure that they were not overprescribing for patients who were seeing, in fact, other physicians. So the interoperability is key. The fact that it should be easy, that the information should be readily accessible and should be in as close to real time as possible, are all important efforts. So this is a great first step, all of the States, including the State of Florida, passing that legislation, moving forward, now making them more robust, making them used, and making them interoperable, are all key components of the prescription drug plan. Ms. Leonhart. I would add that we have seen some promising information coming from the States that actually share that PDMP information with law enforcement. For instance, a recent study showed that there were lower death rates in States that were sharing with law enforcement, specifically in California, Texas, and New York. So it is a promising tool. Good to see that soon there are only two States that will be without PDMPs or without legislation pending. Senator Blumenthal. Thank you very much. Thank you both for your great work in this area. Chairman Whitehouse. Just to follow up on Senator Blumenthal's question, have you been alerted to any desire for Federal legislative changes to support the State initiatives in prescription drug monitoring? As I understand it, the Medicare and Medicaid billing information, for instance, access to that for purposes of identifying prescription drug abuse and diversion is being accomplished primarily at the State level. Are they running into common problems that we should attend to? Or is the State-based process, do you think, a successful one in terms of something that can go forward and continue to make progress on its own without further Federal legislation? Mr. Kerlikowske. Senator, we have widely discussed at the different hearings and the different visits that we have had around the country, the issue of a national PDMP. A couple things came into play. One, the experts that have developed those systems say they would be very difficult to implement because of, for instance, just the difficulty of personal identification when it comes to common names across an entire Nation, an entire data base. That would be a problem. Second, that the States design these and operate these themselves and, therefore, they can put into place the patient privacy, the confidentiality guidelines that they would like, and also who has access to it. I think there are a number of best practices, and I think as the evaluation continues on, I am pretty hopeful that the individual States by working together--and, of course, your next witness is certainly another subject matter expert in this--can be very helpful. But right now I am quite satisfied with what I am seeing at the State level. Chairman Whitehouse. Do you agree, Ms. Leonhart? Ms. Leonhart. I do agree. I do believe that Congress could help, however, in the area of interoperability. And, of course, funding is an issue for the States moving forward with these systems. Chairman Whitehouse. Well, thank you both very much. This has been--do you have any further questions, Senator Blumenthal? Are you ready for the next panel? Should we go on? If you would like another round, I---- Senator Blumenthal. I wanted to follow up on Senator Whitehouse's excellent question about encouraging the effectiveness of the drug monitoring programs, and I know that there is some reluctance to make it more national and impose kind of national requirements. But I wonder where you see the resistance to increasing the interoperability, which I think is really key. As it is in so many criminal justice information programs, the failure to link State systems is a major barrier. So I am wondering either now or if you want to think further about it and respond in writing or have a conversation about it, I would be very interested in following up on that issue. Mr. Kerlikowske. I know that the State of Ohio and the State of Kentucky have signed an interoperability agreement to begin sharing information. I think that shows some promise, and I would be happy to follow up to that question. Senator Blumenthal. Great. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chairman Whitehouse. Let me thank the witnesses. Let me reference back to a statement that Director Kerlikowske made about his role as the bully pulpit at the White House on some of these issues, which is a role we obviously encourage. But I would hope that you might also be a bit of a bully pulpit within the White House with our friends at the Office of Management and Budget as these relevant rulemakings proceed. It has been astounding to me as a newly elected Senator to see the pace at which Federal rulemaking slugs forward. And while I think the agencies themselves are not always absolved of responsibility, it does seem that there is a common thread that things do seem to bog down at OMB. And if there is anything you can do to move some of these along and get OMB to expedite to the extent that they can, I think that would be helpful. I cannot tell you how long it took to get through the controlled pharmaceutical e-prescribing situation, and that was in theory with pretty much everybody on board as to the direction it should go. So I have become--I do not know what you would call it, but impatient, I guess, with the pace of Federal rulemaking. And you may be in a position to expedite it a bit, and if you can, I would urge you to do so. But I thank you for your dedicated efforts over many years in this area, and you, too, Ms. Leonhart. As Attorney General Blumenthal and I both know, you have people out in our streets and in the streets of foreign countries every day who are resourceful and brave, who take extraordinary risks to protect us. We have both had the pleasure and privilege of working with DEA agents who have been really among the finest Americans I have ever had the chance to work with. And so, I thank you for being here on their behalf. The panel is excused, and we will take a 2-minute break while the next panel assembles itself. Thank you both for your testimony. [Pause.] Chairman Whitehouse. All right. If the hearing room will come back to order, my first order of business is to add to the record of this proceeding a number of items: First, a letter from our colleague, Senator Casey, and then statements from the Partnership at Drugfree.org; from the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America; from the American Pain Foundation; from the American Academy of Pain Medicine; from the International Institute of Pharmaceutical Safety; from the Federation of State Medical Boards; and from the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians. I appreciate all of their statements, and they will be, without objection, added to the record of these proceedings. [The statement appears as a submission for the record.] Chairman Whitehouse. We now have our next panel. Our two witnesses are: First, Laura Hosley. She is manager of community prevention for Rhode Island Student Assistance Services. She also serves as coordinator of the Jamestown, Rhode Island, Prevention Coalition and oversees the North Kingstown, Rhode Island, drug- free communities grant. She previously served as project manager at the University of Rhode Island's Cancer Prevention Research Center, worked as a student assistance counselor in Rhode Island middle and high schools, and directed a group home, serving individuals with mental illness and substance abuse problems. She has an undergraduate degree in education and psychology from the University of Rhode Island and a master's in management from Lesley University. She is joined on our panel today by John Eadie, who is the director of the Prescription Monitoring Program Center of Excellence at Brandeis University. He previously served as director of the Division of Public Health Protection in the New York State Department of Health from 1985 to 1995, where he directed the State's pharmaceutical diversion program, including the prescription monitoring program. He was co- founder and president of both the Alliance of State with Prescription Monitoring Programs and the National Association of State Controlled Substances Authorities. If I could ask you to stand while we administer the oath. Do you affirm that the testimony you are about to give before the Committee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God? Ms. Hosley. I do. Mr. Eadie. I do. Chairman Whitehouse. Please be seated. Ms. Hosley, welcome. Thank you for coming down from Rhode Island. Please present your statement. STATEMENT OF LAURA HOSLEY, MANAGER, COMMUNITY PREVENTION, RHODE ISLAND STUDENT ASSISTANCE SERVICES, WARWICK, RHODE ISLAND Ms. Hosley. Chairman Whitehouse, Senator Blumenthal, thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today on behalf of Rhode Island Student Assistance Services and the Jamestown and North Kingstown Substance Abuse Prevention Coalitions. I am pleased to provide you with our perspective on effective strategies for reducing the abuse, misuse diversion and fraud of prescription drugs. Rhode Island is a small State, but we seem to show up in the top of the national statistics when it comes to substance abuse. In 2004, the last year the National Survey on Drug Use and Health asked about the non-medical use of prescription drugs, Rhode Island was tied for fifth with two other States. In 2008, when the same survey asked about the use of pain relievers non-medically, Rhode Island came in seventh. It did not matter which of the five counties you looked at. They were all similar. The last Rhode Island SurveyWorks data showed that 1 percent of high school students have tried painkillers without a doctor's prescription. I manage a drug-free communities grant in North Kingstown. Prior to this, I oversaw strategic prevention framework State incentive grants. In my 20 years of working in prevention, I had never seen such well-organized efforts as with these grants. After the first 3 years, we saw a drop in 30-day alcohol use of 14 percent and a 4-percent decrease in marijuana use among high school students. We had focused our efforts on underage drinking. We have cooperative relationships with multiple key partners which make it relatively easy to work on media campaigns, policy changes, law enforcement efforts, and more. The national prescription drug take-back program was held on April 30th in conjunction with the DEA. In North Kingstown, the local police department and the State police filled five boxes. When I received the list of how many pounds of drugs were collected, I saw that the top eight communities were either drug-free communities grantees or had the strategic prevention framework grant, or both. Together they had collected over 75 percent of the 1,716 pounds of drugs. Cities and towns that have the funding can get citizens educated and involved. They get results. I used to be a student assistance counselor. Student assistance counselors are on the front lines. Unfortunately, Federal and State funding no longer covers the cost to ensure that minimum programs are funded, especially since the safe and drug-free schools and communities funding was eliminated. The Rhode Island Student Assistance Program is a key element in the prevention infrastructure since the counselors are insiders. Along with providing early intervention, they can also assist with evaluation, policy, and enforcement efforts in the schools. Last month, I heard the story of a student who barged into a student assistance counselor's office acting confused and incoherent. The counselor found out that she had taken prescription drugs that were not prescribed to her, along with LSD, and determined that she was in a drug-induced psychosis. The girl was taken to a hospital by ambulance where she stayed for 3 weeks. She is now back in school but needs to take lithium, which is usually prescribed for people with bipolar disorder, to remain stable enough to stay in school. She is still having crying bouts and difficulty handling stress. The boy who gave her the drugs has been released from prison and is allowed to attend school with an ankle monitor. Two lives connected by prescription drug abuse resulted in both having diminished chances for future success. While Rhode Island is just beginning to address the complex issues related to prescription drug abuse among teens, I believe one of our more effective prevention mechanisms will be the student assistance program. These highly trained counselors are onsite where access for students is easy and confidential. Collectively, the student assistance program, working in tandem with community coalitions, has been successful in reducing the use and abuse of alcohol and tobacco. I have every reason to believe that continuing and expanding the student assistance program, along with coalitions through the drug-free communities program, will help communities handle the complexity of prescription drug abuse among teens. I have provided more comprehensive recommendations in my written statement, but in the interest of time, I would like to focus on the one that is the most critical. I believe that with drug use on the rise and the elimination of the safe and drug- free schools and communities program, the Federal Government should focus more emphasis and funding on community and school- based substance abuse prevention and intervention strategies and programs by explicitly requiring that drug prevention and intervention programming be adequately included in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and by fully funding the drug-free communities program. We have the potential to reduce the abuse of prescription drugs among youth in schools and communities throughout Rhode Island as well as nationwide. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have. [The prepared statement of Ms. Hosley appears as a submission for the record.] Chairman Whitehouse. Thank you, Ms. Hosley. We will take Mr. Eadie's statement first, and then we can ask questions as a panel. But I wanted to thank you for the quality of your testimony. For those who have not read it but have just listened to you, you gave a summary today, but your full statement will be a part of the record, and it will be extremely helpful. I wanted to also mention, specifically with respect to the recommendation that this be protected in the reauthorization of the ESEA, Senator Brown, who was here, has a very keen interest in all of this and has--I guess he has rotated off the HELP Committee now. I am not on the HELP Committee. We will be doing that bill in that Committee. And Senator Blumenthal is on that Committee as well. So Senators who have been here today--I guess Senator Klobuchar is not, but you have very good representation of that Committee here by, I guess, fortuity. So it was a good recommendation for you to make at this moment. Mr. Eadie, please proceed. STATEMENT OF JOHN L. EADIE, DIRECTOR, PRESCRIPTION MONITORING PROGRAM CENTER OF EXCELLENCE, BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY, WALTHAM, MASSACHUSETTS Mr. Eadie. Good morning, Chairman Whitehouse and Senator Blumenthal. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you on behalf of the Center of Excellence for Prescription Monitoring Programs at Brandeis University. We thank you for the honor of testifying on this critical matter. The Center of Excellence seeks to help end the prescription drug abuse epidemic without compromising pain management or the legitimate prescribing of controlled substances. In collaboration with the Alliance of States with Prescription Monitoring Programs, the Center provides academically sound and practice-relevant information, evaluation, and expertise to prescription monitoring programs and other stakeholders. The center is funded by a grant from the Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance. The urgency of our work is based upon our knowledge that: daily, 50 people in our Nation die from unintentional prescription opioid overdoses; and, daily, 20 times that number are admitted to hospital emergency departments for opioid overdoses. At the Center of Excellence, we believe that we must improve our methods for identifying and interdicting prescription opioid abuse in order to slow down and reverse this epidemic's ever rising toll. The rapid growth in States with prescription monitoring programs--and I am delighted to say that the number is now 48 States. Five have just passed legislation in the last few weeks, and it has been signed. And we just have the District of Columbia and two States left--is a very hopeful accomplishment. The majority of these States have been authorized since 2003, when the Harold Rogers Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs Grant funding began--a program administered by the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance. Through that program, competitive grants have stimulated growth and enhancements among the PMPs. Important additional funding has been provided by the NASPER program until this new budget. That program, administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, is a formula grant program that has been important in assisting States' prescription monitoring programs by supporting their operations. The continued operation of PMPs and the significant enhancements called for to address the prescription drug abuse epidemic appear to call for continuation and expansion of both unique programs. In addition to Federal funding support, we need a rapid evolution of the prescription monitoring programs into a new generation of even more effective systems, a new generation whose hallmark must become proactivity. The new generation will take advantage of technological advances and integrate them into the fabric of PMP operations. Many characteristics of the new generation are highlighted in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy's new Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Plan, which you have discussed previously. In addition, interstate PMP data sharing is essential. This must be completed in order to create a national network of State prescription monitoring programs that are interoperable through the Prescription Monitoring Information Exchange Hub, known as the PMIX Hub, which BJA, the IJSI Institute, and the Alliance of States with Prescription Monitoring Programs have been working to establish for 6 years with support from our center. The Hub is operational today, and several States are in process of interconnecting. In addition, we need to work on the following issues: We must increase the proactive reporting to prescribers across the Nation where PMPs analyze the data within their databases and send it out when they identify potential problems and let prescribers and, for that matter, pharmacists know what is going on. We also have other changes to make within the systems. You have touched on some of them already. Making data more timely. Oklahoma is pioneering such an effort today. Starting in April, they have got point-of-sale data going into their systems. Making access seamless, using electronic health records as a way of doing that. Combining prescription monitoring programs and e- prescribing, which you have discussed, is an important element and a new element. Considering with public and private third-party payers the value of mandating prescribers to assess PMP data prior to issuing the first controlled substance prescription and periodically thereafter as a condition of payment. In addition, we need to increase the requested reports and proactive use of the data for pharmacies. We need to also develop a verification system that PMPs would carry out to tie to dispensing, to make sure that the requirements--for example, if there is mandatory physician education, the prescription monitoring program should assure that that is being accomplished, that prescribers who are not trained are not going to prescribe, or if they do, report effectively. We need to also--and I cannot emphasize this enough. We need to increase and improve the access that law enforcement agencies have to prescription monitoring program data, both in terms of solicited reports where they request reports and in terms of unsolicited reports where the PMPs proactively identify problems and send them out. The same thing is true for health professional licensing agencies. There are other users of PMP data who need to be involved that are not currently involved. Just as an example, the Indian Health Services, Veterans Administration, and Department of Defense health care systems need to be integrated. And I know you have talked about that already, but this system has to be beyond that because it is not just the integration of VA and Department of Defense. It is the access to the other prescriptions issued for the same individuals in those systems who may be going outside to get cash paid prescriptions, which compounds and confounds what is going on within the VA system or the Department of Defense, and they are blind to it at the moment. We need to develop an early warning system, and PMPs have the capability of doing just that. We need to develop greater concern for youth. Our initial analysis identified significant concerns there. And we need to talk about mandatory prescriber education. It is from my perspective exactly important, and I recommend it highly to you. [The prepared statement of Mr. Eadie appears as a submission for the record.] Chairman Whitehouse. Thank you, Mr. Eadie. I appreciate it. And thank you, Ms. Hosley. Your work in Rhode Island must have exposed you to some pretty well informed views about where it is that youngsters, in particular teenagers, are getting access to these prescription drugs. And if you could comment a little bit about that and particularly how some of the earlier testimony about the need to improve on the regime of disposal could help this, because as I understand it, throwing them down the drain risks creating environmental problems, leaving them in the cabinet risks creating abuse or encouraging abuse, and there really is no clear third option that most Rhode Islanders are aware of. Ms. Hosley. Well, as I wrote in my statement of record, students seem to know who are getting their wisdom teeth pulled and who might have access to painkillers especially. We hear that in schools kids have access to Adderall. So it seems to be something where the students may share the medications that they are prescribed, but also are getting it from medicine cabinets, from their parents and grandparents. I think just the fact that these prescriptions are overprescribed, they do tend to be sitting in people's homes. So I think that increasing awareness is huge, and when we had the take-back program, we made sure that we publicized it in the papers and that we put it on the list serves to go to home to all the parents so that they were aware that there was a way for them to get the medications to a place to properly dispose of them. I think the fact that they cannot just go at any time is a little difficult. I know I missed that date and still have some prescriptions sitting at home. But I heard that next year it might be twice in the next year. So at least if we had some type of mechanism in place for the disposal, that would help, but we really do need to increase the awareness. You know, with funding such as the drug-free communities, we can put a multi-pronged strategy in place for whichever drug we are focusing on, and I do not think we have really done that yet as far as prescription drugs go. It is something we need to do, but I think that all the communities need to do it and not just certain ones who are able to get additional funding. Chairman Whitehouse. We have the good fortune in Rhode Island to have one of the largest pharmacy companies in the country headquartered right in Woonsocket--CVS--and perhaps you and I could work together with them once the regulations are finally through their Federal administrative rulemaking process, either at the end of the year or early next year, as DEA Director Leonhart suggested, and work with them on perhaps taking a leadership role in this area. So I look forward to working with you on that. Mr. Eadie, the States tend to manage these prescription drug monitoring programs. There has been a relatively limited Federal role other than the grantmaking role. Interoperability has come up as an area where it might be suitable for the Federal Government to provide some support and some guidance to these State-based programs. It appears that their State base actually is an asset in terms of awareness of local conditions, comfort about privacy and security issues, and things like that. Without taking those elements away, without making this something other than the State-based program that it is and has been, are there other ways than the interoperability where you think that the Federal Government could have a helpful role in supporting and guiding what would remain under this model a State-driven prescription drug monitoring program? Mr. Eadie. Chairman Whitehouse, I think there is a role. I think that things we--in mandatory education, for example, if that is required, then it should be a corollary that prescription monitoring programs should build into their system an ability to track that and make sure that the trained physicians are the ones who are--and dentists, for that matter, and other prescribers, are the ones who are actually prescribing. That is a simple thing. Now, the larger question is how to involve the Federal Government without disrupting the value of the State-based systems, and the responsiveness that you have indicated is extremely important. Innovation is also important. Without State-run programs, we would not have the electronic prescription systems available to doctors today. That was an innovation that started with the State of Nevada just a little over a dozen years ago, and it is now widespread across the Nation. I mentioned Oklahoma as an example. They are starting point of sale. They are pioneering that effort. Massachusetts is pioneering efforts today for electronic health records integration. They also have an electronic- prescribing system testing in western Massachusetts, which you may or may not be aware of, but it was approved with a waiver by the Drug Enforcement Administration. It is funded by the Administration for Health Research and Quality. It is a small- scale project, but it has demonstrated that electronic prescribing by physicians can be operational and is effective, and that is ongoing today. It is actually operational at the moment. And we have been party to that and supporting that as it goes forward, and I think there is a major role for the future for that. I think that electronic prescribing should be integrated with PMPs. At the moment that is not possible because it does not exist. But it should be integrated as quickly as possible, and I think that Federal funding support, which indicates support for that initiative, is important. In short, I think that broad guidelines of criteria or of guidance are valuable. Being too specific at the Federal level, which is a tendency to anchor into Federal law or regulations specific things that States should do, will ossify the systems at a point today where the technology is rapidly evolving. We cannot afford to have anything that is rigid. But there can certainly be guidelines. There can certainly be statements of encouragement. There can be, in effect, minimal guidance such as States that are receiving Federal funding for PMPs should have built into them interoperability with them and other States. There should be or could be--the same thing as it relates to e-prescribing and other things--broad categories of requirements without specifics so that we can innovate, we can create, we can go forward. Chairman Whitehouse. OK. Well, we are certainly interested in that in Rhode Island because, as you know, we are one of the top e-prescribing States in the country. Mr. Eadie. Yes. Chairman Whitehouse. We sort of go back and forth with Massachusetts as to who claims to be No. 1. Mr. Eadie. Exactly. Chairman Whitehouse. And we are advanced enough in electronic health records that we are actually looking at a statutory health information exchange. And as we speak, data is actually flowing through something called Current Care in Rhode Island so that it is being populated automatically into electronic health records outside of a single corporation but across entities. So we look forward to working with you on those ideas, and I think if we can do that, then people who are at the front lines working with kids like Ms. Hosley will have an additional, as Senator Blumenthal said, tool in their toolbox. And with that, Senator Blumenthal. Senator Blumenthal. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you both for being here from Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and thank you both for your work in this area. And I hope that folks in Rhode Island know how active and aggressive Senator Whitehouse has been with his background in law enforcement, but also his leadership in really moving the Judiciary Committee to take cognizance and take action in this area. I want to ask you about some of the potential actions that drug companies themselves could take in the area of discouraging or stopping drug abuse, apart from improving the monitoring programs that exist in many States, particularly with respect to painkillers, whether there are actions that can be taken to provide for greater safeguards in these areas. As you well know, OxyContin has been a continuing problem, oxycodone. There was an action by the Department of Justice and States, including Connecticut while I was Attorney General, relating to OxyContin. And the failure of the company that produces it to really follow perhaps more responsible measures in the marketing and selling of the pills that were subject to pain release mechanisms. And I do not want to single out, because it would be unfair to do so, any one company, but I wonder if you could give us your observations as folks who are dealing firsthand, on the ground, in the trenches, with this problem about actions that you see the pharmaceutical drug companies themselves potentially taking to reduce this problem. Ms. Hosley. I am not sure whose responsibility it would be, but perhaps if a shorter timeframe was given when those prescriptions were prescribed so that they did not get a 30-day prescription for having their wisdom teeth removed and maybe had a 3-day with the option to renew. I think there is too much medication out there, and I think it is way beyond what needs to be out there, and that just invites the misuse and abuse of the drugs. Mr. Eadie. I would recommend great care in the way in which funding from the manufacturers might be considered. Perhaps in the prevention area, the substance abuse prevention area, it would be helpful for having funding available. It certainly is an area where they have a need to share responsibility for what has happened with the use of their drugs. When it comes to issues closer to regulatory activities and things like the prescription monitoring programs, I think that one has to be very careful about considering funding that is perhaps voluntary or so-called voluntary. I can give the example of our own situation at the Center of Excellence. We were approached by a major drug manufacturer in our first month of existence and asked if we would be willing to collect data from prescription monitoring programs and provide it to them for their RIMS obligation as it related to a new product they were bringing on the market, a new controlled substance product. And we thought about it carefully and decided that we could not do that in good faith because, No. 1, there would be the appearance perhaps of conflict of interest on our part to do that; and second would be the potential reality of it--that is, there would be no way we could look at the data without knowing somewhere in the back of our minds that how we analyzed the data, the way we presented it, the kinds of charts we produced, the analysis we stated, all could be inadvertently influenced by our knowledge that future funding would rest on how happy that manufacturer would be with the reports we produced. When we said no, thanked them, they came back with a counter proposal that we then serve in that capacity with 21 drug manufacturers, the ones working with the FDA on the RIMS project for the class-wide RIMS for the extended-release opioids. And we thought about that again. There was great value in collecting the data from the States. We still want to do that. It is very important to collect the data and analyze it. We know that from experience. But once again, the two caveats that I mentioned a moment ago came back to our cognitive function as we thought about it very carefully, and we thought about how easily a word change can be made in a document from a word that is choice of phrase, choice of how things are presented, there would be no way that we could protect ourselves against the thought in the back of our minds that next year's money would be dependent on how happy these manufacturers are with what we produce. And so we ultimately thanked them but said no. Having said that, I think that applies generally across the board to any of the prescription monitoring program activities that States are involved with. I honor what the Florida State Legislature has just done in passing a law that refuses to allow their prescription monitoring program to accept funds from drug manufacturers, either directly or indirectly. I think that was a major step forward. As you probably know, there was $1 million offered to them by a drug manufacturer. But let me give you examples. We know that there are drug manufacturers that have been very active in supporting prescription monitoring programs for the last decade. But if you read their materials very carefully, there is no provision within that for the kind of proactive analysis of data and distribution of that data that is absolutely essential for prescription monitoring programs to go forward, particularly as it relates to law enforcement. And there is also--there has been in recent years a number of States that have enacted laws that have provided restrictions on law enforcement that extend to requiring court orders, requiring subpoenas, requiring a variety of what amount to, in our view, inappropriate restrictions on law enforcement's access to the data. And so I think that there is room for manufacturers on the other hand to contribute to a fund that might be Congressionally mandated like the Food and Drug Administration establishes a fund that pays for its costs and which manufacturers are mandated to contribute to that fund, and the fund is then used to cover the costs of the FDA in reviewing and approving their drugs. Why couldn't, why shouldn't there be an equivalent fund established by mandate of the Federal Congress to drug manufacturers to contribute significantly to the funds necessary to operate these prescription monitoring programs? They benefit by it extraordinarily. There is no reason why they cannot and should not contribute to the solution to the problems created by their drugs. Senator Blumenthal. Well, I thank you for that answer. My time is up, but I look forward to working with both of you, and I want to say that the maker of OxyContin, by the way, has taken some very responsible steps. Purdue Pharma has taken some very important leadership steps in reason to these problems. And one area where I was thinking more could be done is in providing warnings, perhaps in restricting the length or amount of prescriptions as you have suggested, Ms. Hosley. But I look forward to working with you, and, again, thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your work in this area. Chairman Whitehouse. Thank you, Senator Blumenthal. Let me thank my colleagues Senator Brown, Senator Klobuchar, and Senator Blumenthal all for participating in this hearing and, I guess, wrap up by saying how impressed I think we all have been by the information that we've heard today about the epidemic nature of the prescription drug problem and the rapid rate at which it is growing and affecting our emergency rooms, affecting our families, affecting our schools, affecting our communities. The areas that appear to need further attention and effort include public awareness, and I was glad that the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Director Kerlikowske, was here to talk about his efforts in that regard. We appear to need to better coordinate our law enforcement resources, although it does appear that the prescription drug monitoring programs stand out as a growing and effective State- based vehicle for addressing this problem, but one that could be strengthened with further integration with electronic prescribing, further integration with electronic health records, some integration, beginning integration with the VA, Department of Defense, and Indian Affairs health systems, and improved interoperability State to State. So those seem to be worthy goals that come out of this hearing. The last is that we do not seem to be in a very good place yet with respect to the disposal of unused controlled pharmaceuticals, that throwing them down the drain creates one set of problems, leaving them in the cabinet creates another set of problems. And we have not really developed a robust system for finding other ways to dispose of them, and we look forward to working particularly with the pharmacy and pharmaceutical industry to come up with solutions since it is their product that ultimately is at the heart of this problem. So I appreciate Director Kerlikowske and Director Leonhart for taking their time and sharing with us their expertise this morning. I appreciate very much Ms. Hosley's testimony and her work in Rhode Island on the ground with the kids who are at the center of our attention really today, and Mr. Eadie for your many years of service. I think that you are sort of the father or uncle, or whatever you would call it, of the PDMP movement, and clearly it is one of the success stories that we want to build on as we continue to move forward and address this epidemic. We will keep the record of this hearing open for an additional 7 days, an additional week, if anybody wishes to add anything to the record. And other than that, the hearing will adjourn, and thank you very much for your testimony. 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